Holy Shit

Via Huffington Post

Three people upset that a news crew was reporting on the arrest of a relative attacked the television reporter and yelled racial slurs at her and a photographer, authorities said Tuesday.

The family members, all white, began yelling and charged at black WSPA-TV reporter Charmayne Brown while she was standing in the street near the family's home in Union, said news director Alex Bongiorno.

Brown was punched in the head, and black cameraman Ti Barnes was also struck as he tried to pull family members off Brown, Bongiorno said. A video of the attack shows Brown, who wasn't seriously injured, defending herself.

"I think she's more affected by the verbal abuse than the physical abuse. She's really shaken up," Bongiorno said.

The fight was taped by a white crew from a second television station. They were not attacked.

And being black is helping Obama out?

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

And what about this?
U.S. Imprisons One in 100 Adults, Report Says

The number of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults is behind bars.

Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 adult Hispanic men is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in 15 adult black men is, too, as is one in nine black men ages 20 to 34.

Sex Infections Found in Quarter of Teenage Girls

1) Couldn't they have come up with a better title? Sounds like the girls are covered in pustules
2) Where the fuck are the stats on the boys? Oh wait, boys don't get STI's
3) Abstinence only sex ed is obviously not working

In regards to the president's demand for blanket immunity for telecoms:



Kick ass. He is lying, he knows it, some of the Democrats know it, and I know it. Bastard

Found at Daily Kos

A Brown Woman's Open Letter to Geraldine Ferraro & the Clinton Campaign

Dear Geraldine Ferraro and Clinton Campaign,

Geraldine Ferraro, I would like you to know that I am someone who always gives people the benefit of the doubt, but it was through your arrogant responses to the backlash you have received that I am convinced that you meant exactly what you said. I don’t know much about you, I was only 1 year old when you were the Vice President nominee, but as a fellow Democrat, the last 48 hours have deeply troubled me.

I would like you to know that the combination of your statement(s) and the Clinton campaign’s response; I cried last night. Yes, I cried. Let’s start with this:

You said: "He happens to be very lucky to be who he is"

It reminded me of when I was 17 years old sitting in my AP Calculus class, and a "friend" in "congratulating" me for being accepted into a prestigious undergraduate institution told me how "you’re so lucky that you’re last name is ______." Because of course, to him, my higher test scores and higher GPA were nothing in balance to my Spanish surname. That was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, yet I went home and cried to my father. I woke up the next morning with an e-mail from my dad saying, "Yes, you are lucky to be Mexican. Because Mexicans are some of the hardest working people in the world."

I received multiple comments like that as a teen, and admittedly they affected me. It took me a couple of years as an undergraduate to feel as though I was more than a charity case, that my spot was earned, even though I knew my qualifications and hard work better than anyone that made such comments.

There's More

Damn, there are many times where I feel exactly the same.

So, there has been a ridiculous amount of bullshit articles circulating lately. Ive commented on a couple of them this week, and here are two that I read, but was just too tired to rip apart.

Want to have a baby? Now's the Time

For Hillary's Campaign, Its Been A Class Struggle

There is more (if you can even believe it) but yeah, linking gets old

Anyways, Katha Pollitt gave an ass kicking to Charlotte Allen today. It isnt our stupidity that pisses Allen off but:

that these women reject, with every fiber of their latte-loving beings, the abstinence-only, father-knows-best, slut-shaming crabbed misogyny of the Republican right.

Gotta love it

There is something about Radiohead that just makes everything OK. Today while listening to this song, I entered a state I am rarely in, absolute peace.

House of Cards- Radiohead



What wouldn't I do to make out (or more) with Thom Yorke : )

Can I get an Amen?

Old habits die hard. I admit I still flinch if someone calls me a bitch. But I must remember to be proud that I am no longer invisible, and therefore pleasing to everyone and anyone. And I think of my favorite real-life bitch, my dog and companion. Now there's a role model.

She's faithful, loving, valuable, warm, nurturing, intelligent, affectionate and capable of ripping someone who attacks me or my loved ones to ribbons. She's a bitch and, except for the way she drools and sheds, I want to be just like her.

Is 'Bitch' the New Black?

I really, really, really, hate this company.

So, right now Monsanto is fighting to have labels taken off milk that say "rbgh free". Hmm, maybe because people realize that they don't want milk from cows pumped full of unnatural growth hormones. Monsanto claims there's no difference in the milk and that bgh is natural (that is before it's been modified into rbgh which makes cows produce much more milk, to the point that they go to slaughter much earlier than non rbgh cows). Fuckers.

So I guess a Glamour editor got herself into trouble because she said that "political" hairstyles such as a fro or dreadlocks are not appropriate for the office. I don't know about you, but my fro is in no way political, I was born with it. To compensate for this ridiculousness, Glamour decided to create a panel of women to discuss why "biased beauty standards are still around". They talked a lot about hair, and what it meant to them to have it straight or to leave it natural.

Floyd: Even now, often hair is the way we are differentiated in this culture. To me the decision to straighten your hair is deeply political. When I have my Afro and walk down the street, there’s no doubt that I’m black. With this [straightened] hair, if I talk about being black on air, viewers write and say, “You’re black?!” I feel [straightening your hair] is giving up a sense of your identity. Let’s be honest: It’s an effort to look Anglo-Saxon.

For the past 2 years, I have been regularly straightening my hair. For a bit, it was a nice change. I got tons of compliments, I could brush my hair whenever I wanted, and I didn't have to wash my hair everyday (which my hair loved, the dead have feelings too). But the novelty soon wore off, and although I really wanted to wear my hair curly again, I continued to straighten it. Why? Because I felt that with my hair straight, I looked more professional and grown up, something I have been trying to achieve, unsuccessfully, since I graduated college.

I couldn't really verbalize why I felt this way, but whenever I wore my hair curly, its wildness seemed.... unprofessional and childish, maybe even a bit rebellious. But I love my hair curly, and feel much more like me when I wear it that way (not that I feel my personality is unprofessional or childish). Why the hell was I worrying over my hair? Why did I feel like I was making a statement when I wore my hair curly? Why did I equate curly hair with being unprofessional and straight hair as professional? After reading the Racialicious blog I think I finally found my answer.

But this does not change the reality that “white” is considered the golden standard and that everything else is deemed unacceptable. Straightened hair, fairer skin, keener features are all considered beautiful while anything else is automatically considered unattractive. If you are a woman of color, you suddenly find yourself under enormous pressure to compensate for that you “lack.”

And from the Glamour panel:

REESE: I’d like us to consider how we see things. When it comes to race, we’re looking from the past. When people see me with my natural hair, they don’t see Dr. Venus Opal Reese who has four degrees, they see an historical idea of what natural hair means. And that’s what it meant in the 1970s and 1960s; it equaled black nationalism and was linked to the Black Panther Party. It was considered militant. That doesn’t mean it’s true now, but that’s how it’s linked.

Holy Shit! So, I refuse to any longer feel guilty for liking to wear my hair natural. I refuse to let myself be fooled into thinking curly hair makes me appear any less professional. Its humbling to know that even when I thought I was above buying into beauty norms, I was unknowingly perpetuating one.